Can't Explain
by Willow Edmond
Summary: May Parker can try to hide it, but her sister Raven knows she wants to go to the prom. And she knows the only person she wants to go to the prom with is a certain teenager Football player / wrestler. Will she be able to pull this off? (This is set in the I'm Free world, but can be read as a stand alone)
1. Chapter 1

_I'm Getting Funny Dreams again and again  
I know what it means but  
I can't explain_.

\- Pete Townshend

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I Can't Explain

Chapter One

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{o}-{o}-{o}

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One of the many jokes in the Parker family was that May, Shelly, and Raven were "Irish triplets." May had been born first, then Shelly came ten months later, and Raven nine and a half months after Shelly. Another joke in the family was that their mother had asked the doctor if she could get pregnant again to the doctor, after May and Shelly were born. And when indeed, she did, the doctor reacted by going, "I didn't mean that very day!"

But, when you had all the kids the Parkers had, you heard a lot of jokes and you learned to joke back too. At least their parents did. When someone found out about the kids and asked (as they always did) "So, are you catholic?" Michelle was known to smile brightly, and putting her southern accent on as thick as she could and say, "Why no, we're just poor, white, trash." Which in itself was a joke, because a lot of the kids, like May, had characteristics from their Grandmother, who was decidedly _not_ white.

Shelly was growing up to be the ultimate girl of the family. When she realized her family wasn't able to just let her buy new outfits on a whim, she learned to sew and started making herself outfits, then moved to designing her own clothing. While other girls her age did go shopping for clothing, Shelly went shopping for material. Raven found it all a little stupid. Why did having a closet full of clothing matter so much? You could only wear one outfit at a time.

Shelly also loved to tell anyone who would listen how lucky she was to have inherited their mother's wavy blonde hair instead of dark straight hair like Raven had from their Grandfather or May's dark "4c" hair (whatever _that _meant) that she had inherited from their grandmother. Defining hair types also struck Raven as pretty stupid. Hair was hair.

Neither Raven or May cared much about clothing, or their hair for that matter. May wore hers in thousands of little braids most of the time, just because it made it easier to care for day to day. Raven just grew her hair long and braided it into one long braid that hung down her back. Sometimes she got May to braid it for her. She never asked Shelly, because Shelly always wanted to do some fancy type of braiding that made Raven feel like she was some manikin head Barbie. Besides, fixing hair so it looked extra nice, was all part of the human mating ritual, which Raven wanted nothing to do with.

Raven and May were close because both of them had only one dream since they were children, to become wrestlers. May wanted to be a high flier, so she had taken gymnastics when she was younger, Raven wanted to be a brawler, which meant she worked twice as hard as the other kids in her grandfather's martial arts teaching. They weren't typical teenagers and neither of them pretended to be. Their grandfather had gotten May a job at ESW, a tiny wrestling promotion, attached to ESU. The ES in both of them stood for Empire State. May cleaned locker rooms, washed floors, fetched water, and did all sorts of grunt work, for training. Raven was hoping to someday take over that job.

They had also been part of the SPWA (Samoan Pride Wrestling Academy) two week session for teenagers this last summer. And they had done so well, that they had been allowed to stay four weeks, mostly being trained by the owners three younger sons, Roman, Mox, and Lance. And working along side of a couple other students, Seth Rollins and Mustafa Ali.

All the kids had become friends, but Raven and Mox were a little closer than Raven and anyone else, except for her sister. May on the other hand, got closest to Roman.

All the kids stayed in touch now, via Skype, texting, etc. Sometimes all together in a group, sometimes separately. When May and Roman were in a private chat on Skype, Raven heard Roman call May, "Baby Girl," and other types of endearments. It made Raven want to gag, but May always seemed to get all mushy and start glowing when Roman laid on the affection.

More than once, Raven had come into the bedroom she shared with May, and found May and Roman laying it on thick with each other. "All the girls in school must flirt with you, Roman. You're so handsome," May would be looking at Roman like the only glass of water in the desert.

"None of them are as pretty as you, Baby Girl."

More than once, Raven got whatever she needed and left the room making noises like she was puking.

But, Raven also thought it was kind of cute, for lack of a better word. It was certainly more "normal" teenage behavior than May usually displayed, although she was better at being a typical teenager than Raven was. And, if May wanted to be flirty, well, that was May's business. One of the two of them ought to give a crap about that type of thing, it sure wasn't going to be her.

When spring started showing signs of breaking up the cold, mostly gray, New York winter, and instead of being happy, May started acting mopey, Raven was a little surprised. Until she started realizing that Shelly was going on and on about one thing.

_Prom._

One of the _stupidest_ of the Teenage Mating Rituals in Raven's opinion, but she could see the look of longing on May's face every time Shelly insisted on dominating the dinner table with discussions of how _so_ many boys had asked her, and which ones she was considering. (She was hoping for Colin Cassady, but since he hadn't asked her yet, she was starting to think she _might_ have to pick someone else.) She also babbled about the dresses she was making for various classmates, and how much money she was raking in, enough to buy the material for her own dress, which of _course_ would be the best of all. It really was enough to make you want to puke. Preferably on Shelly.

Raven just let Shelly's babbling go in one ear and out the other, and usually studied May's face instead. Maybe the rest of the family was dense, but she saw the sadness in her sister's eyes. Maybe in most things, May didn't give a crap about teenage mating rituals, but apparently Prom was one she didn't want to miss.

At first Raven decided to be direct. "Look, do you want to go to the stupid Prom?"

A quick look of fear and longing flashed across May's face, but she shook her head. "I really don't care. You know that's more Shelly's thing than mine."

"So, there's a rule that only _Shelly_ can go to Prom?" Raven asked, "I wasn't aware of that one."

"Don't be sarcastic," May had advised.

That had been the end of that. Raven was sure May wasn't going to spill her guts and confess she did want to go to Prom, but that didn't mean she didn't, either.

Raven thought about talking to her mother and asking her to cheer May up, but dismissed that quickly. May didn't want _Mom_ to comfort her, May wanted to go to the prom. Raven knew she'd have to take matters into her own hands. She might not be open and mushy, but she loved her sister fiercely and wanted her to be happy. And if this silly teenage mating ritual was what she needed to make her happy? Well, then that's what Raven would work on.

She knew the night of Prom, which being in May meant it was around May's birthday. which served to make her all the more determined. She did research on the internet, she checked her savings account. She might not have a job like May did, but she'd done her share of hustling for cash, including tutoring kids. She didn't blow money like other kids, so she had a nice savings account. She knew her parents were hoping she was saving for college (Yeah, like that was going to happen. She agreed with Mox, why waste four of your prime physical years in college when you could be working towards becoming a wrestler?) But she thought May's happiness would be worth blowing the whole thing.

She talked to Shelly too, because she knew Shelly was busy with dresses, but she hoped Shelly would find the time to make one for May. Shelly was so thrilled with the idea of May going to Prom too, that she offered to buy the material. "I saw some blue silk material at the fabric outlet that would go_ perfectly_ with her eyes! And don't worry, I've been making everyone else their dresses since Fall. I'll have the time to make May's."

The last step was to talk to Roman Reigns. High school senior, star football player, good looking bastard with hair to _die _for, as Shelly would say. Everything cliche about a prom date, all rolled into one very fit package. She hoped that the guy wasn't seeing someone, because he did a whole lot of flirting with May. If Raven found out that Roman was using May as an internet girlfriend while dating someone offline? she might just buy a round trip ticket to Florida just to kick him in the slats. Maybe someone who looked like Roman was usually a player, but May _wasn't _the type of girl you played with.

.

.

It was Friday night and Football season was over, which should have meant that Roman _should_ be out partying with his friends. Instead, he was in his room, working on his homework. _I might as well be middle aged_, he thought, but not bitterly. He was going to be in the SPWA show tomorrow night, because both Mox and Lance wanted him to be, and he had a hard time refusing his younger brothers. And, even though he had been accepted to Georgia Tech with a full Football Scholarship, so inclusive that his parents wouldn't have to spend a dime, if he didn't keep his grades up through Graduation, they could withdraw that scholarship. Yes, it was given to him mostly for his football skills, but the coach made it clear that part of this was his grades too. "You're an excellent student, who has managed to stay on the honor roll and you haven't been taking remedial basket weaving. We're really looking forward to having someone we won't have to keep on top of to make sure their grades don't slip."

If it all meant that Roman needed to spend more nights studying than having fun with his friends, well, so be it. He'd have the summer between graduation and being a college freshman to make up for it. In the meanwhile, instead of taking the easiest courses he could for his final semester as most of his friends were, he was taking the most difficult ones he would to show Georgia Tech he was no slacker.

He'd been hitting the book since before dinner, taking a break to eat, then coming right back to it. But at least he had the bedroom to himself. Mox was down in the gym, working out not just his body, but no doubt thinking about their match tomorrow night. Roman loved his brother and didn't really mind when Mox stayed in the room with him while he studied, but not minding wasn't quite the same as _liking._ It was easier to study when he had the room to himself.

"I hate evolution, I hate evolution, evolution can suck my dick," he sang under his breath, knowing how horrified his mother would be if she heard him. And how _doubly_ horrified his Grandmother would be, not at the language as much as the whole concept of evolution, never mind that Roman was learning it, of all places, in a _Catholic _High School! The church left it up to the individual to decide for themselves if they believed in evolution. Nona chose to believe Genesis was a historical account of the creation of earth and mankind. Roman felt there was room for both. He also knew that Georgia Tech taught evolution, not creationism, so he might as well get a head start in learning. Besides, if his High School taught it, then God must not have a problem with it.

Right now, Roman's only problem with it was that his brain was getting tired and he found himself reading the same question over and over again, unable to think about the answer.

He had his laptop running, with Skype on, just in case May stopped by for a quick chat, which would be a great excuse to take a break, so when the laptop pinged, telling him someone had texted him, he looked up.

It wasn't May, it was Raven_**. **_** I need to talk to you.**

_**Is May all right? **_

**May is fine**. Raven answered so fast that Roman believed she'd anticipated the question and started typing it before he'd hit send. **I mean, nothing is wrong with her, exactly. Look, can we talk? **

_**Aren't we doing that?**_

**No, we're texting, I mean we have the cameras on and we talk.**

He didn't think he'd ever video chatted with Raven alone. Not that he'd avoided it, it just never seemed to happen. She must really want something. _** I'm sort-of having a problem with a homework question**_.

**If you take a break it might come to you easier. **

She was right. He pushed his homework aside and brought his laptop closer. _**Let's go, Blackbird**_.

**Very funny**.

She "called" him and soon enough they were video chatting. "What's up with May?" Roman asked.

"What's the question you're having problems with," she countered. "I want your mind in the game when we talk, so let's get that over with."

"It's advanced evolution," Roman said. "A senior class and you're a freshman, you won't know it."

"A_ smart_ freshman," Raven reminded him. "Not at Lance's level, but smart enough. And I did take evolution, they offered it as an elective science class last semester, and I found it interesting enough to do some research on my own after I finished the class. Try me. If I can't answer, I'll tell you to go to Lance."

Roman knew there was no arguing, so he read from his homework. _"Three million years ago, populations of snapping shrimp were separated on either side of Central America when the Isthmus of Panama closed, creating a land bridge between North and South America. Researchers found that snapping shrimp on one side of the isthmus appeared nearly identical to those on the other side. It is believed that the separate populations were once members of the same population. When researchers put males and females from different sides of the isthmus together, they snapped at each other aggressively instead of mating. Which of the following best describes what happened to the snapping shrimp as evidenced by the aggression observed?"_

"They weren't in the mood," Raven said, which Roman gave a snort at. He started to read the choices given, but she spoke before he had the chance. "does one of the answers mention Allopatric speciation with Geographic separation?"

Roman glanced at the choices. "Yeah, it does." _Jesh, first my brother the genius now Raven seems to have the answer. _

"Then that's the answer, " Raven said. "Do I need to explain why, or would you have figured it out if your brain wasn't overworked?"

"My brain is overworked, " he admitted it. "And as soon as you gave the answer, I realized what an idiot I was. Okay, now that that's out of the way, it's break time. So, what is up with May?"

"Physically, she's fine. Mentally she's a mopey. Are you going to the prom?"

"I'm thinking about it," Roman said, his already overworked brain wondering what was going on. "There's a girl in my class, Tonya Clark. Since neither of us are dating, I was thinking about asking her. Just as friends."

"_Friends_, huh?" Raven's looked at him, her brows knit.

"Yes," Roman said. "We're_ just _friends. I'm too busy to date right now."

"Would you be saying that if you and May weren't all flirty?" Raven never was subtle. "Be honest."

Roman sighed. "I don't think I'd have a steady girlfriend, but I'd probably go on a few dates."

"So, is it safe to say that if May were in Florida, or you were in New York, you would be her boyfriend, or at least the two of you might be going on dates?"

Roman could admire Raven's blunt way of speaking, but there were times, like this, when it could pin you to the spot. He liked May and May liked him. But both of them were realistic about the limits of having a relationship with such a geographic divide. It was easier to just... not talk about it than to try to figure out what it was they actually had. But Raven wasn't going to settle for "Yeah, we like, like each other, but…" His voice trailed off for a moment then he sighed. "Yeah," he finally said. "It's likely we'd be an item."

"Good," Raven said, with a curt nod. "Because I want you to take her to Prom."

_"What?"_ Later, Roman would realize that Raven had led right up to this question, but at the time, it surprised him. "To her prom or my prom?"

"Hers," Raven said. "Look, May has spent most of her life, like me, thinking about being a wrestler. She's never been one to care about teenage mating rituals-"

Roman couldn't let that pass. "Teenage _mating_ rituals?"

Raven shrugged. "For lack of a better term, yeah. All proms, homecomings, whatever, is ritual to cover up that deep down, mother nature thinks the most important thing for us to do is to procreate. Attraction is all about finding someone who you think you'd make healthy offspring who are likely to survive at least until _they've_ had a chance to procreate."

"Okay, you and Lance have been talking too much. Your sounding a lot like him." Roman laughed.

Raven scoffed. "I realized this_ long_ before I met Lance. But, just because prom is a mating ritual, doesn't mean my sister doesn't want to go. She's pretending she doesn't care, but she does. And I know if she could go to Prom with anyone in the world, it would be you."

"I'm flattered," Roman said.

"You should be," Raven said. "Edge is on the list, and he's a good looking bastard. Seriously though, this would mean a whole lot to her. I don't like to beg, but I think neither of you would mind spending, what can be defined as a romantic evening together, so let's make it happen."

"I'll have to fly out there," Roman said.

"I can cover your flight," Raven said. "I realize you weren't planning this, and I have enough in savings. I can cover _everything_, actually. Flight, tickets, so on and so forth. Just _please_ take her. She's not just a sister, she's my friend and I know how much this means to her."

Roman couldn't help but be a bit touched that Raven would be going to all this trouble for her sister. "I'm not broke," he said. "Unless a round trip flight would be ridiculously expensive, I can cover it." He realized he had pretty much confirmed he would go. And, he had to admit, he was warming to the idea.

"Yo, bro!" Mox said, as he walked into the room, bringing the smell of sweat with him. "Oh, hey Raven!" he said when he saw her on Roman's screen. He didn't seem at all surprised that Raven and Roman were talking, not the usual May and Roman. "Nice to see you, I'm going to hit the shower. I think I was sweating harder than Machete in a sauna." Before Raven or Roman could respond, he went into the bathroom, whistling some aimless tune.

"He seems happy," Raven commented. She was smiling, as if this really pleased her.

"He is," Roman said. "We're wrestling in the show tomorrow night, and he's doing good."

"So, everything is cool right now?"

"For now." Roman knew what she was hinting at. Mox's was moving forward on pressing charges against Dennis, the man who had kept him captive for years. Even though Dennis was in jail now for murdering Mox's other captor, and likely to get the death penalty, Mox still wanted charges pressed. For assault, for kidnapping, for rape, everything he could heap onto the man. When parts of his past had found its way into his current life, Roman and Seth had convinced him that coming clean might be the best way of handling it. Let the world know right out front what he'd done, what had been done to him. Don't let people find out by whispers.

Roman knew it would be the hardest thing Mox would ever do, but he also knew that in the long run, it would be better than having information leak, making it look like Mox was hiding, thus making him look guilt. Roman knew that someday all of this was going to explode and the media would be all over Mox, but that hadn't happened yet. Right now, all was calm and Mox was enjoying it.

"I'm glad." Raven said. "Things are going to get messy, it's nice that he has time to just..._ be_, you know?"

"Yeah," Roman said. "To be a kid, well, at least as much of a kid as Mox will ever be." He looked towards the bathroom and an idea began to occur to him. He said nothing about it to Raven, instead the two of them began working on the logistics of Roman coming to New York to take May to the prom.

.

.

A cloud of steam rolled from the bathroom as Mox walked out, wearing a pair of boxers and a white tank top, his usual sleeping attire. He looked over at Roman, noting he'd shut off his laptop, which meant Raven was gone. Which was too bad, it might have been nice to have a group chat before he went to bed. "Raven left?"

"Yeah, she's helping her grandfather teach her brothers and sisters really early tomorrow, so she begged off to get to sleep," Roman said.

"Is she okay? And May?" Mox asked. "I mean, you and her don't usually chat alone, and it's none of my business if you do, but I just wanna make sure everything's okay."

"Yeah," Roman said, as he closed his textbooks, clearly done with studying and homework for the night. He turned on the chair to face Mox, who was sitting on his bed. "She wants me to take May to the prom at their school."

"Oh," Mox said. He knew what a prom was, in the most vague of terms. Some fancy, formal thing for teenagers, but it wasn't something he was concerned about. Still, he got the feeling that for some kids it was a huge deal. Roman and May were probably those types of kids. "That's cool. How are you going to get there?"

"Fly," Roman said. "Tickets aren't that bad, Their prom is on Saturday night instead of Friday like most schools. So, I can fly up on Friday night or Saturday morning. Raven says I can stay at their place Saturday night and fly home Sunday morning." He turned back to his laptop and turned it on, but then faced Mox again.

"That's nice," Mox said, casually. "I'm sure you and May will have a great time."

"I think we will too," Roman said, "But, you know, I've been thinking, maybe _Raven_ should go to prom, too."

"Raven doesn't give a crap about that type of thing," Mox reminded him. "Teenage mating rituals and all."

_Of course Mox would know she called Prom a teenage mating ritual. _"Yeah, but she might care when she gets older," Roman said. "It might be something she can look back on and go, 'yeah, I'm glad I did that.'"

Mox shook his head. "Raven wouldn't just want to go to Prom with just anyone," he said. "She's picky about who she hangs around with and she doesn't like any of the guys at her school."

"I wasn't thinking she should go to the prom with just 'someone,'" Roman said. "I think she should go to Prom with _you_."

.

.

Much to Mox's dismay and horror, when the subject of both Roman and him bringing May and Raven to the prom was brought up to his parents, they both agreed it was a good idea.

Marc agreed too. So did Noella, his live in girlfriend.

And, if _that_ wasn't enough, even _Lance_ thought it was a good idea. "It will give you a taste for high school life," Lance explained. "I mean, High school is a lot more than prom, but prom is one of the Highlights. Logic would say you really should at least have one teenage highlight of your life before you fully embrace adulthood."

Mox scowled at his youngest brother. "Take your logic and shove it up-"

_"Language!" _Jen interrupted before Mox could finish. "And I think Lance is right, I think you and Raven will have a lovely time. She comes across a little rough, but she's a very nice girl."

"Can't Roman and May go Prom?" Mox asked. "And me and Raven can go to a movie or something? Maybe find some live wrestling? New York is a big city, there might be something we can go to."

"Nope," Roman said, shaking his head. "I want to have at least one guy at this Prom that I know, and guess what? It's going to be you. If I go, you go."

"Well then, let's not go," Mox suggested.

"Would you _really_ deny May this special evening?" Roman asked, looking at Mox with a mock sad expression. "Her chance to do something she _really_ wants to do? That Raven has worked so hard to arrange? Would you _really_ ruin it for her?"

Mox wanted to point out that there was no reason why Roman couldn't go, and that him claiming he wanted another guy there was a cop out, but he was too frustrated. So, he scowled at his family, crossing his arms over his chest like nobody was going to get through to him.

He also knew he was going to the damned Prom, whether he wanted to or not.

* * *

Author's Notes: This is a four part story that takes place between the final chapter and epilogue of _**Who Are You.**_ Most of you wonderful readers wondered if there was some sort of romance brewing between May and Roman. And, I did figure it was brewing, but that they never would have dared while the training session was going on. So, here it is... a chance for a Roman gets to go out with May story.

And Raven and Mox? How do you think _that_ one is going to go?


	2. Chapter 2

_Oh, I wanna dance with somebody  
I wanna feel the heat with somebody  
Yeah, I wanna dance with somebody  
With somebody who loves me_

George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam

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**Chapter Two**

{o}-{o}-{o}

.

Roman knew he needed another ally in the Parker household to help him carry this out. He couldn't tell Raven Mox would take her to the prom, she'd freak out. Sometimes he wondered why he was pushing for the two of them to go, when most likely, neither of them wanted to. He expressed this concern to Marc one evening when he was having dinner with him and Noella.

"I think this could mean a lot to both of them, but I know Mox hates the idea and I'll bet Raven does too. But, I think this might be something they'll look back on and think it was good that they went, if that makes sense."

"Yeah, they both _think_ they don't want to go," Marc said. "But they're friends. We saw that this summer. It may not be a night full of sparkles and stars and romance for them, but I'll bet they'll have a good time being together again. And, if they really hate the actual prom, they can leave. A lot of kids leave the prom early."

"Most of them to get lucky," Roman pointed out, smirking.

"That's why _I_ left early," Marc said with a grin, then looked at Noella. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Noella said, helping herself to another bowl of salad. "I knew your past when we moved in together. Besides, you aren't the only one at this table who got lucky on Prom night."

"Oh?" Marc quirked a brow. "Was he as good as I am?"

"Of course not," Noella said promptly. "Compared to you he was _horrible_. I only get through the memory by pretending he was you."

"You're lying, but I love you for it," Marc said, then turned his attention back to Roman. "I think you're right, this will be something they'll be glad they did when they're older. And it wouldn't hurt Mox or Raven to do something typical for kids their age."

Roman nodded and looked at Noella, "What do you think?"

Noella finished the bite of salad she'd taken and smiled. "I think that someday, both Mox and Raven will think that your planning all of this was sweet. It might take a few years though. Possibly a decade."

"Thanks," Roman laughed. Reminded of his other problem, he added, "I need to talk to someone else in the family, but all I know who to get in touch with is Raven or May."

"Not exactly," Marc said. "We've still got Raven and May's paperwork on file from when they were at the camp. It's got a couple contact numbers on it. I think her Grandparents and her parents cell phone numbers."

"That would work," Roman said with a sigh of relief. "But is it right to use that information?"

"Probably not," Marc said, "But I strongly doubt anyone will mind."

.

Roman knew Raven and May were very close to their grandfather, but he was smart enough to realize Logan Devany might not be the best choice for these matters. His granddaughters both adored him, he knew that, but from what they had told him about the man, he didn't seem the type to want to enter some plan to get his granddaughter to Prom. So, that left their Mom.

Instead of calling her right away, he found her email address on the application and wrote her first, saying he wanted to discuss something with her, and could she call him some time when May and Raven were not around?

She called the next evening at nine. "Is this too late?" was the first thing she asked.

"No," Roman said. "Are we going to be able to talk in private?"

Michelle Devany laughed. "Yes, we sure can. You _do_ know that RAW is being broadcast from the Barklays Center tonight. My dad bought tickets for everyone except me and the youngest ones. I hope you're okay about missing it to talk to me?"

"We record it," Roman said, although he didn't always watch it, unlike Mox who usually watched it when it was on and at least once afterwards. "And this is more important, so I don't mind missing it. Did Raven tell you, about May and I going to Prom?"

"She did!" Michelle sounded delighted. "And I'm so glad. Don't worry about spending the night, we may be a large family, but we have a large place and there is room for you. We'll pick you up from the airport and get you back there for your return flight home. May is going to be _so_ delighted, she likes you a lot and she's told me you're a good person."

"Good," Roman said, feeling his cheeks getting warm and glad they were on the phone rather than video chatting. He usually got along with the parents of the girls he dated, but this was pretty effusive praise. "Uhm, I haven't told Raven this... and I hope it's going to work out, but I want to bring Mox with me to take Raven to the prom... if you think we can work it out?"

Michelle gasped. "Roman, I think that's a_ wonderful_ idea! What does Mox think?"

"He was a little shy at first," Roman said, then crossed his fingers, "But he's warming up to the idea." _ Or, at least resigned to it. _

"Yes, I think Raven might offer a few protests of her own," Michelle admitted, with a small laugh. "But, I think they should do this."

"Me too," Roman said. "We can all go together, which will be nice, the four of us. Well, and Shelly too, if she wants to tag with us, although I've heard she has her own crowd of friends. But, yeah, I agree, that Raven might think this is a bad idea, so I think we should spring it on her. If Mox is at the door in a monkey suit, she's not going to be able to say no."

"I think you're right," Michelle agreed. "So, what do you need from me?"

.

May had been easy for Shelly to con into giving her measurements. ESW was starting to use her in some of their shows, so all Shelly had to do was tell her she was going to make proper ring gear for her, and May almost stripped to her underwear on the spot. And, Shelly knew she had the skills to make her sister ring gear, that wasn't a problem. She just told May that she would work on it after prom season. May was so thrilled at the idea of her own ring gear, not wrestling in bicycle shorts and a sports bra, that she didn't even stop to think why Shelly would want her measurements if it was going to be over a month before she could even start on the project.

Raven though, was another matter. Raven wasn't working for ESW, except when she helped her sister, but she wasn't ready to do shows. So, the ring gear excuse wouldn't work for her. And Shelly couldn't say she was going to make her a couple dresses for when it got warmer, the excuse she would have used for May, had the ring gear not worked. Raven didn't wear dresses. In fact, Shelly thought that if Raven knew about this whole prom thing and was told she absolutely did not want to go, she would want to wear a tuxedo. _You might dislike dresses, sis,_ Shelly thought as she tried to figure this out. _But you are going to wear one to your prom._ She might have used some of Raven's clothing to get measurements, but Raven wore loose things, baggy jeans and over sized flannel shirts. Raven's dress was going to fit her perfectly and for once, Shelly was determined the world would see what a pretty girl her sister was. The "Irish Triplets" were going to be the most beautiful girls at the prom. Okay, she would be the _most_ beautiful, but May and Raven would be a close second.

.

Odd to most folks, but not to the Parker family, they lived in a converted library. They were lucky to have the old library and they got it at a reasonable price, because it needed a lot of work, which had been spread out over the years. It also had a basement that had been set up as a gym, and Raven spent a lot of time there.

So, when Shelly couldn't find her in the rest of the house one night, she went right to the gym, where Raven was beating the hell out of the heavy weight punching bag, hanging from the ceiling. "What did that poor bag ever do to you?" Shelly joked as she walked in.

"It exists," Raven said, leaping up and doing an impressive looking kick that really didn't move the bag as much as it should have. "See? I'm not being so mean to it now."

_Wrestling,_ Shelly thought with an inward shake of her head. _She's practicing wrestling. Can't she find another hobby? There's nothing wrong with wrestling, but that's _all_ she's cared about since... well, since I can remember_. "I need your help."

Raven's brown rose. "With what?" she asked.

"I have a friend," Shelly lied. "She doesn't go to our High School, we met at a fashion show." It was a safe enough lie, Raven knew she loved going to fashion shows, and Raven sure didn't. She wouldn't question if she should know this girl. "She wants me to make her prom dress."

"And I can be useful,_ how?_" Raven asked, eyes narrowing.

"Well, she's busy, and she's about your height and about your build. so I was wondering if I could get your measurements, so I could use those to start working on her dress."

Raven looked down at her chest, which, like all the Parker/Devany women bordered at the very edge of "Comically large." The fact that they were all petite women as well didn't help. This affliction was often referred to as "The Devany Curse." Her great Aunt Alex, Grandpa's sister had gotten breast reduction surgery a few years ago and said it was the best thing she'd ever done. "Uh, yeah," Raven said, sounding unconvinced. "You're friends with a girl who's not even five feet tall and has double D's."

"We're not the _only_ ones with large breasts," Shelly retorted, trying to keep it casual. "She's a couple inches taller than you, but I can plan for that. Look, I'm not going to make the dress to completely fit you, I'm just going to use your measurements as a start. When she's less busy, in a month or so, I'll fit it to her exactly."

Raven rolled her eyes. "Are you going to make me try on said dress?" she asked. "Like before you can fit it to her?"

"I might?" Shelly said with a shrug. "But I'll try not to. C'mon Raven, be a good sport."

"Never let it be said I didn't help out my sister in her hour of need," Raven said. "Let me finish up with my work out and take a shower. Then I'll be yours to measure. I just hope you'll be quick, because I haven't finished my homework."

It won't take more than a couple minutes," Shelly promised her. "Come to the sewing room when you're done." Before Raven could change her mind, she left the room.

Later that night, after Raven had stopped by, and Shelly got her measurements, Shelly grabbed her cell phone. Her mother had given her Roman's number when she had been enlisted in helping with this plan.

_**I got her measurements,**_ she quickly texted. _**She doesn't suspect a thing.**_

A few minutes later, her phone dinged. **Good. Mox and I are going tux shopping this week. Did you get the tickets for Mox and Raven? **

_**I sure did.**_ Raven had bought tickets for Roman and May, but Shelly got the ones for Mox and Raven.

**Good. How is May's dress coming?**

_**Perfect. **_ Shelly texted _**She's going to look gorgeous.**_

**She always looks gorgeous. The dress will probably make her look spectacular.**

_**Well, aren't you the silver tongued devil himself, Mr. Reigns. **_

.

"I feel like a double agent," Roman said to Mox as they headed to the tux place to pick out their tuxedos. "I'm working with Raven on May and I, I'm working with Shelly on Raven and you."

"You _better_ not be complaining," Mox said, giving sideways glances as his brother, as if he was the one driving, not Roman. "Me going to this... Prom thingie was not my idea."

"Quit being a putz," Roman suggested. "Is spending time with Raven that disagreeable? You spent hours of time with her last summer."

"That was different," Mox said. "It was about_ wrestling._"

"Well, there's no rule saying you and her can't talk about wrestling at Prom," Roman said.

Mox stopped slouching and looked less upset at that idea. "It's too bad we couldn't get Seth to take the middle one, Shelly. That might actually be fun."

"Shelly doesn't need a date," Roman said. "Apparently, she was trying to decide between several choices and then the one she really wanted to go to the prom with, finally asked her. A basketball star. Raven said his name is Colin Cassady."

"He probably hates wrestling," Mox said with a sniff.

"Why would you think that?"

"His name. It just sounds like the name of someone who hates wrestling. Someone so dense they only think there is one physical activity and that's Basketball."

.

Two weeks before they were scheduled to fly to New York, Mox and Roman were sitting in their bedroom. Roman was doing school work, trying to get ahead so he wouldn't have as much on Prom weekend. Mox was on his laptop.

Roman thought he was working on studying for his GED, but apparently, he'd decided to do some research. He looked over at Roman with an indignant look. "This _prom_ thing involves _dancing." _

Roman nodded. "Of course it does. The prom is a big, formal dance."

"They why don't they call it a big, formal, dance instead of Prom?" Mox scowled. "I don't dance."

Roman's brows furrowed. "Actually, Mox, you do. Better than I do."

"When have you seen me dance?" Mox demanded.

"Whenever there is a song with a good beat that you like," Roman said, puzzled that Mox was even asking. "I've seen you bopping about with your CDs or when you're listening to your Ipod. You're actually _good_ at it, which is better than me. I suck at dancing."

"That's _dancing?_"

"It's a style of dancing," Roman said. "Freestyle, which is what most of us do for 'fast' dancing. The only difference is that you'll do it facing Raven or some other girl, rather than all by yourself."

Mox's brow furrowed, showing he wasn't completely convinced. "If you don't dance, what do you plan to do? Or do you plan to dance and just suck at it?"

Roman chuckled. "I'm going to hope they play a lot of slow songs and that May doesn't mind dancing the fast ones with other girls. Or, I'll do the White Boy dance and just sorta move my feet a little. You know, shuffle around like an idiot."

"Slow songs?"

"Freestyle slow dancing is easy," Roman said. "You put your arms around each other and just sorta move to the music. It's actually pretty nice."

Mox squinted, looking completely not impressed. "Is Raven willing to do the slow dances with other girls?"

Roman laughed. "Not unless she's into girls. It's sort-of an unwritten rule that you only slow dance with the gender you're sexually attracted to."

"Then Raven and I shouldn't be slow dancing at all. We aren't into all this sex stuff."

"It's okay," Roman assured him. "If the two of you don't want to slow dance, you don't have to. In fact, nobody dances to every single song. If you and Raven don't want to slow dance, then don't."

"What if Raven wants to slow dance with another guy?"

Again, Roman laughed. "If she wanted to slow dance with another guy, they'd probably be going to Prom together and you'd be off the hook."

"I don't want to look stupid," Mox said firmly.

"You won't," Roman assured him.

"Damned right I won't. And neither will you."

Roman looked over and saw that glint in Mox's eyes, the one that said he had an idea and not even dynamite was going to blast it out of his head. "What are you thinking?" he asked cautiously.

"There's someone here who really can dance," Mox said, getting up. "And you and I are going to go talk to her. And if she's willing, she is going to teach us to dance."

"Who?"

"Noella." Mox shut down his laptop and stood up. "C'mon, big brother, we are going to learn how to do this dancing stuff."

Roman closed his textbooks and sighed. "I am not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?" It wasn't really a question, it was more of a resignation.

"Nope," Mox said, shaking his head. "If we have to go and do this dancing stuff, we might as well look good while we do it. I don't want folks saying later, 'those Reigns boys sure sucked.' Let's go."

"We are not going to become Micheal Jackson in two weeks," Roman said, but he was standing up as he said it.

"I dunno," Mox said, "You think I'm already pretty good at this dancing. Maybe _you_ won't become another Micheal Jackson, but maybe _I_ will."

"Then who will I be?" Roman asked as they headed down the stairs together.

"You can be the guy who dances _almost_ as good as the guy who's _just_ as good as Micheal Jackson."

.

The Monday before Prom, May went into the room she shared with Raven, who was sitting at her desk doing homework. "Hey Ray,"

Raven looked up. "Hey sis, how was work?" It was six o'clock, May had obviously just gotten home from ESW and dinner would be soon.

"Good," May said, but she didn't look very happy.

"From the look on your face, I would say this is some definition of the word 'good' that I haven't encountered before. Like when people say 'bad' when they really mean 'good,' as in, 'oh, that Leather Jacket is bad!' Is this how it is now? 'Someone ran over my dog.' 'Oh, that's good'?"

May laughed, unable to resist. Raven had a way of saying things, that were usually sarcastic, but funny, too. "No, it isn't that," she said. "It's just I was told I'm not going to be in the ESW show, Saturday."

"Oh, wow, I'm so sorry to hear that." Raven said.

"It is what it is," May shrugged, trying to shake it off. "I'm just surprised because I'm in a rivalry with Prez. so I thought we'd have a part, at least in the pre-show. But Tony told me he needs to give some other folks a chance." She went to her dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants with a matching sweatshirt with the ESU logo on both. "I cleaned the locker rooms last," she informed her sister. "They looked so good when I was done, I didn't want to ruin them by taking a shower, so I'm going to try to take a quick one before Mom calls dinner."

"I thought I smelled something gross," Raven said, with that half grin of hers. "Yeah, go, shower, get clean. If you're not out by the time Mom calls dinner, I'll tell her you'll be right down. If she tries to complain, I'll just tell her how bad you reeked and that you're doing a favor by showering first."

"Gee, thanks, Sis." May rolled her eyes, as she headed into the bathroom.

.When her sister was out of sight, Raven grabbed her phone and texted Roman. _**She just found out she's not going to be in Saturday's show. She's disappointed. **_

A few minutes later, her phone pinged and she looked at the message. **I hope I can make up for that disappointment.**

Raven gave a snort of laughter as she texted back, _**Then be sure to bring your A game, this is wrestling she's giving up after all. **_

.

Mox and Roman took a red-eye which left at midnight, but had the advantage of being non stop to LaGuardia, so the flight was less than three hours. When they got there, the oldest Parker child, Calvin was there to meet them. He was in college in ESU on a football scholarship, which gave him and Roman something to talk about. Mox, while not being rude, contributed nothing to the conversation, just walked along with them.

Calvin brought them to their grandparents house so they could get some sleep before the prom, which Roman thought was a good idea. he hadn't slept at all on the plane.

.

Raven was almost cackling the Saturday afternoon of Prom. Everything was falling into place. Calvin had texted her to let her know Roman was safely at Grandpa's place. Shelly had shown her the dress she'd made for May and it really was perfect for her sister, the fabric almost identical to May's blue eyes. Shelly had even gotten shoes to go along with the outfit, an easy enough task, because the "Irish Triplets" all had the same sized feet.

"This is going to be perfect," she commented to her mother that afternoon. May was at the ESU library, which she often used as a study place, but she had promised to be home for dinner when Michelle said she was making lasagna. When Mama Michelle made a favorite of any child, that child _better_ be home for dinner. "Thanks for making lasagna."

"You're welcome," Michelle said.

Raven studied her mother, noting her mother had that expression that she often had when she was keeping secrets. Okay, maybe May going to the prom was a secret, but certainly not to Raven, _she_ was the one who planned it. "Mom, what's up?"

"Nothing," Michelle said, in that overly bright voice she used when she was hiding something.

"_Please_ don't tell me that in eight months or so, we'll have yet another _blessed event _in this house." Raven tried not to roll her eyes._ I don't want any more sibling. I really don't want any more siblings._

Michelle smiled. "Well, I _am _a few days late." She was was never known for giving out too much detail, but she was honest with her oldest daughters. "But that's happened before."

Raven's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, every time you get pregnant. Seriously, can't you and Dad ever just, you know, read or watch a little TV when you go to bed?"

"I think falling asleep with the TV on isn't good for you," Michelle said.

"Neither is being pregnant or nursing all the time."

.

May was glad when Dinner was over, but she sure wished Shelly would just get ready and go off to Prom already. All week, the family had been dealing with her friends coming over to get their dresses, trying them on one last time to make sure they were perfect and giggling, oohing, and aahing over them. May had half expected a group of Shelly's friends to show up for makeup and hair, as they had done last year, when Shelly had been a Freshman, but still, of _course,_ had gone to Prom. But this year, it was just Shelly. But, it was also only five o'clock and Shelly already had her makeup on, when May was pretty sure Prom didn't start until seven or so, so why was Shelly getting ready so early? Wasn't she afraid she'd chip a nail or something?

_Not my circus, not my monkeys_ she thought, and her inner voice was bitter. She had been telling herself she didn't care about Prom. Up until that night, she had almost managed to believe it. _But, you know the truth_, she told herself. _ There is only one guy you'd want to go to Prom with, and he's not coming all the way from Florida just to take you there. _ She really wished she'd been in the ESW show tonight, it would have helped so much.

She heard the doorbell ring, but didn't move. It was probably one of Shelly's friends coming at the last minute to get her dress, anyway.

.

Raven wanted to be the one who answered the door, but Michelle almost jumped out of her seat to beat her, so she stayed seated in the living room. She heard her mother invited Colin and Roman into the house. She looked up as Colin entered the living room. Somehow, he'd found a tux to fit his almost seven foot frame, but even though it did fit him, he still had that stringy look, like at any moment, he'd start growing so the sleeves would be five inches up his arms and the pants up to his shins. But, she grudgingly told herself he looked pretty good all cleaned up.

Behind him came Roman, who of _course_ looked absolutely perfect in his tux, his hair pulled back in a simple, neat, ponytail like some Samoan/Italian fertility god, who, if you weren't careful, would get you pregnant, just by giving you a certain look. He was holding a small box containing the traditional corsage. She was about to thank him for taking May to Prom, when another person came in, also wearing a tuxedo, also holding a plastic box that no doubt contained another corsage. Her eyes widened. _"Mox?" _

Mox looked amazingly uncomfortable and said nothing, until Roman poked him. He glared at Roman for a moment, then turned to Raven. He tugged at the collar of his shirt. "Hey, Raven," he said, voice gruff. "Wanna go to Prom with me?"

"Not really," Raven said.

"Good, I don't really wanna go to Prom anyway, but he insisted." He jerked his thumb at Roman.

Michelle, who was still standing close, turned and looked at them. "You two hush!" she ordered. "Shelly just ran to get May and you will _not_ ruin this moment for her."

Both of them looked steadily at Michelle Parker as if they weren't quite sure if she was speaking a language they understood. But they said nothing.

.

"May!" Shelly called from down the hall. "There's someone at the door for you!"

May's brow furrowed. "For me?" she called out, "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Shelly sounded exasperated.

"Who is it?"

"I don't know," Shelly sounded more and more aggravated. "Mom answered the door, not me. And I have things to do, so just go and see for yourself!"

"All right, all right." May closed her books and stood up. She was still wearing the jeans and shirt she'd worn all day, and she thought she looked presentable enough for whoever this was.

She wasn't even half way down the stairs, when she saw him, standing there, looking oh-so-fine in a tuxedo that fit his body perfectly, hair pulled back neatly, holding a box with a corsage. May paused, unable to believe her eyes. "R-Roman?"

Roman smiled. "Baby girl, will you go to Prom with me?"

.

For awhile, chaos reigned as both May and Raven began protesting. They had no dress, they had no makeup, they had no shoes. May's protests sounded almost feeble, while Raven's were insistent.

"It's all taken care of!" Shelly said, with a wave of her hand, as if the girls would magically be dressed and made up. "Come on. We have just enough time."

.

Shelly tackled May first to give Raven a chance to sulk and whine about how she wanted Roman and May to go to the prom, not her and Mox. "Go take a shower," she ordered Raven.

"Why?" Raven looked down at her sweats. "I didn't _ask_ to go to this stupid prom."

"Neither did May," Shelly retorted.

"But May _wants_ to go!"

"And so do you."

"Do not!"

"Do too, and even if you don't, you're going and you're going to be clean, so go take a damned shower or…"

"Or what?"

"Or, I'll tell _mom_ how uncooperative you're being."

Raven headed to the shower.

"Should I take a shower?" May asked, looking worried.

"No," Shelly said. "You didn't spend half your day practicing martial arts and getting smelly."

.

Despite Raven's uncooperative attitude, all three girls were ready to go in plenty of time to have pictures taken by their parents, and get to the prom right on time, in Shelly's opinion, which was half an hour after it started.

The dresses were perfect, as Shelly knew they would be. May's a blue silk that brought out her eyes, as every good dress should, in Shelly's opinion. It was a simple design, as was fashionable, spaghetti straps, and a very moderate amount of crystal stones, considering the current fashion. May didn't need many embellishments and with all the different colored beads on the end of her braids, a lot of crystals on her dress would have been overkill.

Raven's dress had no embellishments, because Shelly knew Raven would never go for that. Her dress was a dark, subdued green color. Since most of the girls going to Prom would be in colors that were anything but muted, Shelly knew Raven would stand out whether she meant to or not. And she would stand out in a good way. Shelly herself was wearing a black dress. Not many girls could pull off a black prom dress, but not many girls were Shelly Parker.

When she was 100% confident she couldn't tweak anything on any of them to make them more beautiful, she lead them down the stairs, making a production out of it. Their dates lined up, first Collin, who told Shelly how beautiful she was, which Shelly appreciated.

When May came next, Roman smiled at her. "You look gorgeous, Baby Girl, I'm honored to be going to Prom with you."

"And you look beautiful," May stammered.

Handsome," Roman corrected her.

"Beautiful," May insisted. "Handsome isn't enough."

Mox and Raven stared at each other, neither knowing what to say. Finally, Mox shrugged. "You look really girl-like in that dress."

Raven nodded. "And you look like one of those guys in a magazine that models suits."

As they were ushered into the living room for photos, Mox leaned over and whispered into Raven's ear, "I was told that if it was really bad, we could leave early."

"Yeah," Raven whispered back. "They don't lock you in or anything… but most folks leave to, uh, do_ things."_

"Do we have to do _things _if we leave early?" Mox asked.

"Well, no, it isn't mandatory," Raven said. "But that's the usual reason."

"Well, if we realize we hate this prom thing, then we'll break tradition," Mox said. "We'll leave prom to go get pizza or something."

"In this dress?"

"Sure," Mox said. "We'll be the best dressed folks in the pizza place."


	3. Chapter 3

_Maybe there's a way out of the cage where you live  
Maybe one of these days you can let the light in  
Show me how big your brave is_

_Say what you wanna say  
And let the words fall out  
Honestly, I wanna see you be brave_

Sara Bareilles, Jack Antonoff

.

**Chapter Three**

{o}-{o}-{o}

.

Roman had been to his school's prom before as had Marc, and it was always held in the gym. But the prom for May's school was a bit more formal than that. It was being held in a function room, in what appeared to be a pretty upscale hotel. Yes, there had been some decorating for the occasion, a banner with the theme of the Prom, which was "_A Moment Like This,_" which Roman believed was the theme of the prom at his school too. But while Roman's gym would have been decorated with a lot of balloons and streamers, the decorations here were more subdued, as if it were a wedding, not a prom. There were tiny fairy lights hung from the ceiling and along the walls, that could have made it all look tacky, but they weren't overdone, which made them look tasteful instead. Other decorations included some very beautiful looking flower arrangements on every table. But there wasn't a balloon to be found.

They were standing in the doorway, being held back, which surprised him too. At his prom, everyone just came in in couples and groups, and just walked in. But at this one, there was a man and a woman at the door, who he would later find out was the Principal and Vice Principal. Each couple got a few seconds to make an entrance, and then the next couple would be allowed to go. Roman wasn't too sure if this was sweet or embarrassing.

There were several other couples waiting for their turn when they had come in. As they waited, May was saying nothing, but she was shifting restlessly. "Don't worry, we'll be up soon," he said, smiling.

"I know," she said. "I'm just_ nervous_, you know? When you walk in, everyone is lined up on either side of the walkway so everyone is staring at you, I've heard. It's this chance for the girls to let everyone see their dresses. For the guys to show how great they look when they dress up. But no matter the reason, you are getting stared at. I wish we'd come right when it started, so we'd be one of the first few inside, and avoid this stupidity."

"Baby girl, are you telling me you're afraid to walk in with me, and let your classmates see you?" Roman asked. "Are you ashamed of me or something."

"No!" May's protest was instant. "It's just... I don't _do_ these things, you know? I've always been too busy to have this whole teenage girl thing other kids do. That's been Shelly's thing."

"So?" Roman shrugged. "Look, you were once in the state gymnastics team. When you performed, everyone in the room must have been looking at you. You wrestled last summer in every show we had, and you never seemed shy about that."

"That was different."

Roman looked at her and shook his head. They were almost up for entrance and he didn't want her to be terrified, he wanted her to enjoy herself. "You were never meant to hide your light under a bushel. You _always_ wanted to be a wrestler, not just _ a _wrestler but the _best_ wrestler. And at one point, you considered being a gymnast. I'll bet you've never thought about being an accountant or a nurse or something like that, have you?"

"No," May agreed. "It's pretty much been a wrestler."

"May, no matter what, the spotlight is always going to be your home. So, don't let this frighten you. Walk in, head high, and _own_ it. It's our spotlight for that few seconds and we're going to kill it." Roman wasn't quite sure if he'd been as confident as he sounded if they were doing this at his school. But, this was new territory, and he was entering with one of the most beautiful girls he'd ever met. His confidence might be at an all time high.

Shelly and Collin were going in now, both of them smiling and waving as if the whole prom was happening for them alone.

"Ready?" The principal, Mr. Richardson asked both of them.

May drew in a deep breath, looked over and up at Roman and smiled. "Ready."

They walked in together, the lights bright. And people cheered for them, as they had cheered for Shelly. Well, maybe not quite as loudly as Shelly and Collin, but loud enough that May knew nobody was upset that she'd decided to go to her prom. She did seem to notice a little more female cheering than male cheering, but she didn't care. She wouldn't mind going down tonight as the girl who brought the best looking guy to Prom.

.

.

"Are we supposed to walk into this thing, arm and arm?" Mox asked, looking as the people were going inside.

"I guess," Raven said, seeing how at the front of the line, the one person, usually a guy, would hold out his arm and the other person, usually a girl, would take it and they would walk in. "I don't know how else we're supposed to do it." She licked her lips nervously, knowing Shelly would scold her if she saw her ruining her lipstick.

"I could give you a piggyback ride," Mox suggested.

Unable to stop herself, Raven burst into laughter. "_That_ would get their attention. But not as much as if I gave _you_ a piggyback ride."

"I'm game if you are."

"Let's just do this the way we're supposed to," Raven suggested, no longer laughing, but looking a lot more cheerful than she had.

"Oh, sure,_ be_ that way," Mox said, "After I even learned to dance for you."

"Well," Raven began then stopped. "Wait. You learned to dance? For _me?"_

"Well, I sure didn't learn to dance for Roman, although we took lessons from Noella together," Mox said. "I went on the internet and found out this prom thing was really just a big dance, so I figured I should learn to dance. You know, just in case you wanted to dance."

"I-I don't dance," Raven said. "I mean, I joke around with my family and all, but I've never, like, danced in public."

"Neither have I," Mox said. Collin and Shelly were entering, so it was almost their turn. "But, since I learned to dance, just for you, we have to dance at least once. That sound fair?"

Raven shrugged, as Roman and May walked in, and took Mox's arm. "All right," she agreed.

"It's good to see you, Raven," Principal Richardson said, then motioned them that it was their turn.

When they walked in, Raven half expected everyone to start laughing. Raven Parker with her hair up? Raven Parker wearing _makeup?_ Raven Parker in a _dress?_ But, she heard clapping instead, as they were doing for everyone else who had gone through. She looked at the sides and saw a lot of the kids were giving her surprised looks, but none of them were hostile.

Then she heard it, one boo. Not screamed out, but loud enough. Raven recognized who it was instantly and found herself stiffening as they got to the end of the walk.

"Okay, who is the asshole who is booing?" Mox whispered in her ear.

"Barry," Raven said, and she found herself shivering, even though the room was warm.

"The same Barry whose wrist you broke in Jr. High?" They were walking off to the side to clap for the other couples who would be coming in, getting on the opposite side of the walkway from Barry. Mox stiffened next to her.

"The very same," Raven said. She didn't want to, but she found herself looking at him. At least he'd stopped booing, but he had an arm around his date and when he saw Raven was looking at him, he drew the girl even closer, and leaned over, kissing her deeply. "Good lord, he's here with Lajila Burman."

"Is that bad?" Mox asked. "I mean, she looks pretty. Not that he deserves to go to the prom with a pretty girl, or any girl for that matter, but why is it surprising?"

"She_ is_ pretty," Raven said. "But she's also fairly new to this school, she transferred in for second semester. Her personality is shy and quiet, so she hasn't made a whole lot of friends yet."

"She's met you."

"I can't stand seeing people eating alone at lunch," Raven said, shrugging, "Folks act like if you sit alone, you're some type of freak. Shelly always sits with her gang of friends. May and I sit together a lot, and I'll ask kids who are alone if they want to join us. We have about eight other kids who do."

"That's really nice of you," Mox said.

Raven shrugged. "I'm just amazed Barry is here with her. Barry isn't one of the most popular kids, but he has his group of fellow assholes he hangs with. I've never known Lajila to hang with them. It's not her style at all. But, I know she wanted to go to Prom, I'm just surprised she'd agreed to go with him. She does look pretty though." Lajila was wearing a cream colored dress that looked beautiful on her.

"She's also pretty wasted," Mox commented, looking at her. Even from this distance, he could see her eyes were glazed and her cheeks were flushed, and she was snuggled up to Barry as if he were the world's cuddliest teddy bear.

"No way," Raven disagreed.

"Yes, way," Mox said his voice firm. "I _know_ what wasted looks like and trust me, that girl is wasted."

.

.

The place was set up with round tables, designed to hold about twelve people comfortably. May was a bit surprised that Shelly motioned for her and Roman, and Mox and Raven to join her with three other couples. Shelly had enough friends in school that she could have easily filled her table with four other friends who would be considered a lot cooler than May and Raven were. But Shelly seemed to really want them there.

"We're the three prettiest girls here," she proclaimed. There were three other couples sitting there, the three other girls wearing Shelly Parker Originals, and she smiled at them. "Sorry, you're the three prettiest _after_ us. But a girl has got to stick with her sisters."

"That's okay," one girl said. May had her in her European History class, and she thought for a moment, trying to remember her name and noting the girl had sat down on the other side of Roman and was staring at him with big round eyes that had way too much makeup. "I haven't seen you around the school before," she said to him, batting her very long and very fake lashes. _"Please_ tell me you're transferring."

_Lisa Carter,_ May thought, filled with a sudden longing to kick the girl in the shins. She was glad to see her date, Adam Lansing was looking a little put out as well. It showed her she wasn't overreacting, that Lisa was indeed flirting with her date.

"No," Roman said, shaking his head. "I'm in my senior year at St. Anthony's high in Florida. I'll be going to Georgia Tech next year, full football scholarship."

May frowned, wondering why Roman was being so... boastful, it wasn't his usual style at all.

"But I flew to Florida, just so I could take the most beautiful girl in the world to her prom," Roman continued. He reached over and took May's hand, turning to face her. "Isn't that right, Baby Girl?" He said the last part in a low, purring voice.

"Yes," May said, unable to stop looking at him. He had been boasting, but he'd been boasting for _her_ sake.

"Oh," Lisa sounded disappointed and Adam looked smug.

"He's my brother," Mox said, which made everyone stare at him and Roman, because they certainly did not look anything like brothers.

Colin began looking at the both of them, then slapped his forehead. "Shit, you're _Mox!_ And you're _Roman!" _

"Yeah," Mox said, "We said hello in the limo, remember?"

"Yeah," Colin admitted. "But I guess I was nervous because I didn't put it together. You're Roman and Mox _Reigns._" He looked at Shelly. "I knew your sisters were into wrestling and had gone to the SPWA camp last year, but you never mentioned that their dates were going to be these two guys. They're huge at SPWA. And on the internet!"

"That's because I didn't care," Shelly shrugged. "And I didn't know you did, either."

"You like wrestling?" Mox and Raven asked in unison.

"Yeah," Collin said. "If I don't get into professional basketball, I want to be a wrestler."

Mox looked at him. "Okay," he said. "I wasn't sure, but now I know. You are cool, Collin. Maybe not quite as cool as me because you have a first career choice in another sport, like Roman here does. But, you're still cool."

"Uh, thanks?" Colin shrugged. "But they don't give scholarships for professional wrestling."

"They should," Mox said firmly.

"I agree," Collin said, which earned him nods from Raven and May.

"Please," Shelly shook her head, "Can we not talk about _wrestling_? It's Prom, it's a very special night."

"So we should talk about_ special_ things?" Mox asked

"It would be nice," Shelly said.

Mox nodded. "So, Colin, did you go to or watch Wrestlemania this year?" he asked, turning his attention to Shelly's date.

"I watched the PPV," Colin said. "It was great! Wasn't the match between Austin and the Rock the best? I didn't know who to root for!"

"I thought we weren't going to talk about wrestling?" Shelly drummed her freshly manicured nails on the table.

"I agreed we should talk about_ special_ things," Mox said, "And Wrestlemania is_ very_ special."

Raven gave a snort of laughter. Mox looked at her, with a playful smirk.

"Oh, look!" May said, picking up a sheet of paper that was folded neatly in front of her. "It's the ballot for Prom King and Queen! We should vote!"

Everyone else had a ballot too, and a white ballpoint pen on which was written:

_Edith Warton High School  
2003 Prom  
A Moment Like This, _

In gold, using a very curly script. "These are Prom keepsakes!" Lisa said, holding hers up and looking proud. "I'm the one that suggested them. You can keep them too."

"Well, it wouldn't be much of a keepsake if we had to turn them back in," Raven said, as she opened up her ballot to look at the names. "And, to absolutely no one's surprise, Shelly and Collin are listed!"

Shelly blushed. "I didn't vote for us to be on the ballot, our classmates did."

"We're on there too," one of the other girls at the table said, a stunning African American girl wearing a red dress. Trinity Wilcox, May thought. She had Trinity in two of her classes and she might have been the most popular girl in school if she didn't have this annoying habit of being kind to everyone, which some folks didn't think was all that proper. From the most socially awkward kids to the super in crowd, Trinity treated everyone equally with smiles and hellos. Her date tonight was Luis González, star pitcher on the school baseball team, and, of all surprises, extremely active in the D&D club. He and Trinity had been dating for awhile, which left that stereotype of all D&D players were perpetual virgins in the dust, because the two of them always looked at each other like if they weren't having sex, that was just a temporary condition that would be alieviated as soon as possible.

"Yeah, but we all know who's going to win," Gabby, the final girl at the table spoke. She was a red haired girl with freckles, who burnt to a crisp after mere minutes in the sun. She motioned in the direction of another table. Shelly was popular, but like Trinity, didn't _quite_ make it into the very,_ very,_ super popular club. And if there was one couple among the Super Popular Crowd who was considered _the_ couple, it was Yates Aldrich and Serena Bennet. In stereotypical fashion, Yates was captain of the football team, Serena head cheerleader. They were everything Raven claimed to hate about High School, but May was Yate's lab partner in honors chemistry and they got along pretty well. And, where Selena might have been a jealous bitch about it, she instead thanked her more than once for helping Yates, because chemistry was not one of his favorite subjects.

"If my sister wasn't on the list, I'd consider voting for them," she leaned over and whispered into Roman's ear.

"Family loyalty wins out?" Roman whispered back, "I was actually thinking of writing us in." There was a space on the ballot just for that.

"Don't you_ dare!" _

"Okay, how about Mox and Raven?"

"If they find out, you'll be a dead man," May said. "I'll cry at your funeral, but you really won't have anyone but yourself to blame."

Roman looked over at Mox and Raven who were looking over their ballots and laughing. Raven was probably doing imitations of everyone on the list, except for the ones sitting at the table. "They seem to be taking this better than I thought they would." He looked back at May, "You do know it was Raven who organized things to get me here. I got your mother and Shelly to hook Raven into it too."

May blushed. "I-I owe Raven big time then," she said. "I really thought I'd never get to go to Prom, especially not with you."

"I should have thought of it myself," Roman said. "I was thinking of going to my school's prom with a good friend, just to go. But, even though this isn't my prom, I'd rather be here with you."

May's blush deepened, making her feel like a hot air balloon, as if the heat from her blushing would carry her off to the skies. _Maybe I do understand why Shelly makes a big deal about all this teenage stuff. There is something exhilarating about being here with a guy I really like_.

.

.

"Should we vote for your sister?" Mox asked Raven.

Raven nodded. "Please do, because if you don't, and she finds out? I'll have to live with a lot of high pitched whining for a year or more."

"Your sister is pretty heavy into this whole thing, isn't she?"

Raven nodded. "And yeah, I give her grief, because when I look at it from my point of view, it seems an idiotic waste of time. But, when I remember she wants to be a clothing designer, I get it. Proms, homecomings, all those fancy shmancy things are right up her alley. It's not just the chance for her to be seen, it's a chance for her to show off what she can do. A lot of girls here are wearing dresses she designed and made for them. This is the type of stuff she wants to do for the rest of her life."

"Wouldn't it be nice if they just had wrestling exhibitions?" Mox asked. "You know, you throw everyone's names in a hat and draw out two and they have to wrestle each other."

Raven laughed. "That would_ totally_ rock."

.

.

Dinner was served, which made May wonder why they'd all bothered to eat dinner at home, especially Shelly who knew they'd be fed here. When she asked her, Shelly whispered, as if this was super secret information. "So we won't finish everything on our plates. _Nobody_ wants their date to feel she's someone who stuffs her face."

May thought that might be one of the stupidest things she ever heard, but as she looked around, she noticed a lot of the girls there were more nibbling on their food than eating it. Even though she had dinner earlier, she hadn't eaten much, wanting desperately to get away from Shelly and her prom prattling. "I'm hungry," she muttered.

"Then _eat,_" Roman said. Other folks had made the meal choices for them, because Mox, Roman, May and Raven all had chicken, but others had different main courses.

"Does it make a girl look bad to eat?" May kept her voice low. "Shelly says a lot of the girls eat dinner before so they won't eat much at prom and look like they're stuffing their faces."

"I like a girl who does what _she_ feels is best," Roman said. "And doesn't care what other people do. If you're hungry, Baby Girl, _eat._ Why let it go to waste?"

May picked up her knife and fork and dug into her chicken. It wasn't nearly as good as her mother's cooking, but it was protein and it wasn't horribly dry. That made it edible in her book.

.

.

After dinner, there was the usual "Prom stuff" For Roman it was interesting because he'd been to his prom in his Sophomore and Junior year, so he knew how his school did it. Now he was seeing how another school did it. Not being held in the gym was the first surprise, but the rest of it was similar enough. Prom King and Queen were announced, and to nobody's surprise it was Yates and Serena. Shelly and Trinity looked a lot more disappointed at the announcement than Colin and Luis did. But, since they were the members of the Prom court, once Serena and Yates began dancing to Kelly Clarkson's "_Moments Like This_," and they got to join in.

"Barbaric," Raven muttered, when all five couples were dancing.

"What do you mean?" Roman asked.

"Proms started out for girls who weren't in the upper class to be shown off as potential wives," Raven's nose wrinkle in disgust. "It was the middle class answer to the Debutante ball. Girls must look as pretty and feminine as possible. Boys must look as handsome and masculine as possible. In the fifties, it became this mandatory couples only thing. Only _couples_ could go to prom and by _couples_ they mean a girl and guy. Because not only did that just look so proper, but it showed that instead of being a communist country, full of sin and depravity, the United States was wholesome, pure, primarily a playground for white folks, and _most_ important, _heterosexual _white folks. Homosexuals were branded as child molesting perverts. Mostly guys who took little boys and 'made them gay.'

If that wasn't bad enough," she continued. "When Brown vs. the Board of Education passed and they said that schools had to be segregated? Well, that was horrible enough to the sensibilities of white bread America, thinking of their children having to share a classroom with these black folks, so they insisted that the proms be for the nice _white_ kids only. Some African American folks gave that whole thing the middle finger, and started their own proms for their kids. And while this might sound like something that happened a long time ago, there are still places in Georgia where the proms are _still_ segregated. And before we cheer for the great Liberal North, let's remember this school is pretty liberal, and pretty accepting, but I think half the kids would have a heart attack if we had a two prom kings or two Prom queens."

"How do _you_ know so much about prom?" May asked.

"We had to do a paper for History about one historic tradition that continues to this day." Raven shrugged. "I picked prom, because I thought it was a kind of barbaric ritual in the first place, but the more I looked into it, the worse it got."

"The world is changing," Roman said.

"Not very fast," Raven said with a sniff.

The folks left at the table looked at each other uncomfortably, just as the DJ announced everyone could join into the dance. He seemed to have some extended version of _A Moment Like This_" because it was still playing. Roman looked at May, "Would you like to dance?" he held out his hand.

May looked like he was offering the keys to a Rolls instead of his hand. "I'd love to," she said.

.

.

The rest of the table except for Mox and Raven went with Roman and May to dance. "I know you took dancing lessons," Raven said. "But you don't wanna dance to like this stuff, do you?"

Mox shook his head. "You don't, do you?"

"No," Raven shook her head.

"Is slow dancing barbaric?" he teased her.

"It's a big excuse to rub all over one another," Raven retorted. "Like Barry and Lajila over there," she shrugged her shoulder in the general direction of the dance floor.

Mox looked and frowned. "I think he's holding her up," he said. "That's why he's holding her so tightly, because if he lets go, she's going to fall."

"Is she sick?" Raven began studying the couple, noticing that Lajila had her head on Barry's shoulder. Not resting on it, like some girls were doing, but laying on it. Her eyes were half closed, her mouth half open. Barry had one hand tightly around her waist, the other around just under her butt and Lajila's feet barely touched the dance floor.

"She's_ wasted,_" Mox said. "Some heavy duty shit from what I can tell."

"Lajila does _not _do drugs," Raven's voice was firm. "She's just not that kind of girl."

"Raven," Mox said patiently, "I _know_ wasted. I've _been_ wasted, I've hung around wasted people through my entire childhood. I know what wasted is and she is _wasted._"

Raven studied the girl closer and frowned. "Maybe she had a couple drinks or something," she concluded. "A lot of kids fool around with alcohol and being prom night, she probably thought she might as well try some wine or beer or something. And she's not used to it, so she's likely pretty drunk."

"If you say so," Mox said, but he was watching the couple carefully and Raven could tell he wasn't convinced this was "a couple of drinks." And she was starting to wonder too.

.

.

May was surprised at how well she and Roman fit together. She had worried on the limo ride over that they would look horrible slow dancing together, her nose buried into his belt buckle or something, him looking as if he was dancing with a doll. But it was none of that. The hadn't mashed their bodies together, or it might have looked ridiculous, but instead they both had their arms around each other loosely, so they could look at each other without having to crane their necks too much.

"Why can't you live in New York?" May asked.

"Why can't you live in Florida?" Roman countered.

"Are you going to be at the SPWA teen session this summer?" She tried to make her voice normal, not to show the bare, raw, hope she was feeling.

Roman sighed. "I hate to break it to you, tonight of all nights, but Georgia tech has a football training camp that starts before college does. I'll be gone just before the teen session begins."

"Life sucks," May's voice fell.

"That's one way of looking at it," Roman said. "But when I weigh this against never having met you at all? I still think I'm pretty lucky."

"Me too," May agreed. "it's just... it's just..." she shook her head, feeling frustrated.

"It's just what, Baby girl?"

His voice was gentle, and there was no laughter in his eyes which would make her think he was mocking her, which made May feel braver than she might otherwise. "I've never dated, you know. Yes, some of my brother's friends did ask me out, but I always said no. First it was gymnastics, then it was ESW. At least that's what I told myself, but the truth was, nobody did _it_ for me."

_"It?_" He was smiling now, but his eyes were kind.

"_It,_" she repeated. "Raven would tell you I'm just all aflutter over your dashing good looks and that certainly is part of it, but it's_ just_ part of it."

"What's the other part?"

"You!" she said as if the answer was obvious. "_All _of you. I like it when we talk on Skype. Even if it's about how sore I am from my wrestling lessons, or training with my grandfather. Or you're talking about how your coach is a slave driver. Other folks might think we're whining, but we're not. And we _get_ that. You get how important wrestling is to me, and I get how important football is to you."

He nodded. "You're one of the few people who understand, besides my family, why I get edgy when it's near testing time for Lance."

"Anyone who _couldn't_ get that is a cold hearted idiot," May said.

"You'd be surprised. A lot of folks seem to think that I should be happy because so far, we've found out he's fine." Roman shrugged. "They either don't know or don't remember the times when we took him in for scans and it _wasn't_ fine, it was back or it wasn't disappearing as much as they hoped. When scans are over and he's fine, yeah, let's throw a party, but starting about the week before, the whole family starts acting like they're walking on eggshells because we're all terrified."

"And you even more so, because it's your bone marrow transplant that is supposed to help keep him in remission," May said. "If he goes out of remission, you'll probably blame yourself, believe your bone marrow, and thus you failed him."

"Yeah," Roman said. "See? You get it."

"You get me, too." May said. "You get that a lot of days I feel I have way too many siblings as a whole, but as individuals, I love each and every one of them. That the family rule is that my siblings can make fun of me and we can all make fun of each other, but woe be to anyone outside the family that tries." She tipped her head to the side, thoughtfully. "Do you think if we both lived in the same place and went to the same school we'd be... you know, a couple?"

"What do you think?" he asked, leaning his head closer to hers.

For a moment, May thought he was going to kiss her, and she all but held her breath, but in that horrible sense of bad timing, the DJ started playing _Get The Party Started _by Pink. Roman had told her one night a few months ago on Skype that he didn't fast dance, but he surprised her by staying on the dance floor with her and moving right from the slow, into the fast. _Either he took some lessons, or he was lying to me,_ May thought as she joined him.

* * *

Author's notes: Yes, the stuff about some schools in Georgia still segregating proms is true. At least back then. My research said that as late as 2018 there were still kids fighting to stop it from being so. I would put up links if I could. Yeah, it freaked me out because when I was in school I'd never heard of such a thing and this is a very long time ago.

Anyway, Happy Holidays, no matter what you celebrate. Stay warm if you live in the cold, stay cool if you live in the heat. And if you have a chance to spend time with loved ones? Let them know how much you love them. I will always be grateful that I made a decision when my mother got sick, that no matter how upset I was with my parents or anyone I loved, I would end the conversation with, "I love you." Because that's the last thing I ever got to say to my father and my mother. For exit lines, it's a pretty good one. So, when you're with your family, try to remember that a lot of things come up and this might be the last time you speak with them.

To all my readers, this may sound mushy, but I love you all. Even you, anon "friend" whose "reviews" never make it to my page. Some day I'll address your "issues" to my stories. Especially if you get yourself an account or email and let me know. You give me a way to contact you in private and I will not mention a word in public, it stays between us.


	4. Chapter 4

_Well, I won't back down  
No, I won't back down  
You can stand me up at the gates of hell  
But I won't back down_

Tom Petty/ Jeff Lynne

.

**Chapter Four**

.

{o}-{o}-{o}

.

"You know, there is something vaguely insulting about you being able to dance better than me," Raven said, as Beyoncé's_ Work It Out_ faded and Christina Aguilar's version of _Lady Marmalade _took over.

"You keep forgetting, I took lessons," Mox said, grinning, as they moved on the dance floor. "And don't sell yourself short. You can keep the beat and that, according to Noella, is the most important thing."

"Noella could clomp around the floor like an elephant wearing a gunny sack and everyone would still say she was the best dancer in the world, or at least the most beautiful woman they ever met." Raven shook her head. "I hope Marc realizes how lucky he is."

"He does," Mox said, "Even better though? They both think they're lucky."

Raven's brows lifted and her expression softened. "You know... as sappy as this sounds, that is so sweet."

"Face it, Rave, you're tough as nails on the outside and soft as a Marshmallow on the inside."

"Yeah? Well, keep that under your hat, I don't want the world to know." Raven grinned.

"Too late," Mox said. "Those of us who know you and love you know the truth."

Raven stopped as if they were playing a game of 1-2-3 Red light instead of dancing. "What did you say?" she demanded.

Mox's brows furrowed, puzzled at this complete change in demeanor. They had been dancing at the edge of the dance floor, so he moved over to the side, so they were off the dance floor and gently guided her with him. "What's wrong?"

"You _don't _love me!" she said, shaking her head.

Mox saw more than just an objection, he saw terror in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"You _don't_ love me," she insisted. "Look, I didn't even want to come to this goddamned Prom thing. May wanted to go and she wanted to go with Roman, so I tried to plan it. I did not include me or you in the details. So, I don't know what you're thinking about tonight, but you're wrong. We're _just _friends."

For a moment, Mox felt like his entire world had shifted about three feet to the left and he was clueless about what was going on. He thought about going over to the table they'd been sitting at, but Trinity and Luis along with Roman and May were sitting there. He debated if he should run and get May, thinking she might make her sister feel more comfortable, but dismissed that. He had noticed earlier that other kids were slipping in and out of a side door. He nodded in that direction. "Let's go outside for a minute, okay? We need to talk."

"Oh yeah, let's go off _alone_ somewhere," Raven said, sounding both scared and bitter.

"Raven," Mox stared at her, shaking her head. "Remember? You dislocated a kid's jaw and broke another guy's wrist. It's a blow to my ego, but with what you know, you could kick my ass."

Raven bit her lower lip. "That's true," she said, but her good humor wasn't restored and her eyes were still overly bright with tears.

He didn't think she'd give a verbal agreement, so he just took her arm and led her to the door. She went willingly. He did grab something off one table and stick it in his pocket, but he did it quickly.

Outside was a fenced area with several tables. A few kids were sitting there, some smoking cigarettes, some others smoking weed. For a brief moment, Mox wondered why there wasn't a teacher or some rational adult out there to stop the weed smoking at least, but then figured it was none of his business. He guided Raven to a small table near the gate to the parking lot and motioned her to sit down. He sat across the table from her. "Okay, spill it, Rave." He handed her the item he'd removed from the table.

"Why did you say you_ loved_ me?" she asked. She looked at the item that had been handed to her, which was one of the cloth napkins from the table. She shrugged and wiped her eyes with it.

"Because I do," Mox said. He was feeling like both of them were speaking a different language, where the words all sounded the same, but had an entirely different meaning. "C'mon, you're my original fan and I'm yours. You love wrestling as much as I do, what's not to love?"

She just stared at him, face flushed, eyes wide and bright and suddenly he knew, they _were_ speaking a different language where the words did sound the same "Aw, fuck, Rave, do you think I agreed to this because I want something to _happen_ between us?"

"Isn't that the point of Prom?" she countered. "To break down those barriers, find true teenage love and possibly lose your virginity? That's _exactly_ why I didn't want to go to this thing. Because that shit doesn't interest me. It might _never_ interest me, or maybe someday I'll get over it, but for right now, no way."

"Me too!" he said, figuring he'd better get his foot in the door of this argument. "First, I only agreed to do this prom thing because Roman and the rest of my family seemed to think that I ought to indulge in at least one teenage ritual. Roman threatened not to go with May if I didn't go with you, and just like you, I knew this whole prom thing was important to them. And all that teenage mating ritual stuff, as you call it? None of those are the reasons why I love you."

She narrowed her eyes and looked at him, but said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

"I love you like I love Roman and Lance. Well, maybe not quite as strong, but close. You're the sister I would have wanted. Yeah, I have a half sister and she's pretty cool, but I can't help but sometimes think it would have been so cool if I'd had a younger sister like you and instead of my shit past, we were both living a normal life. We'd both watch wrestling, and beg whoever our parents were to buy us wrestling action figures."

A small smile began at the corners of Raven's mouth. "May and I have one of those plastic storage tubs full of wrestling action figures we used to play with. We used to make toy rings for them too, with boxes and strings. Our grandfather would cut wooden dowels down to the right size so we could use them for ring posts."

"See? I would have _loved_ that." Mox said.

"I'm being an ass," Raven said with a sigh. "I should have known I could trust you."

"I've gotta admit, I'm a little surprised that you got so worried I might try to kiss you or something," Mox said. "Considering, as I said before, you could likely kick my ass."

"But I never_ would,"_ Raven said. "That's part of the problem."

"I don't consider that a problem," Mox said, grinning. "I think that's a damned fine thing."

Her brows furrowed and she drew in a deep breath. "I dreamed I kissed you once!" she blurted out. Before he could comment, she continued. "I don't know why, I didn't _do_ anything, but I had this dream where I kissed you. I don't remember where we were or what we were doing, but I kissed you and you kissed me and neither of us hated it." And that was _wrong_. We both know we're messed up about that stuff. I don't know your full story, but I know enough that neither of us are ready for that type of thing and we might never be, but I still dreamed we kissed and I still dreamed we didn't hate it and... it confused the hell out of me."

"Dreams are just that, dreams," Mox said. "And if we want to play true confessions? I told a buddy of mine that I was pretty sure I was straight because I always thought that if you and I hadn't had our messed up pasts, we would have probably been playing suck face last summer at SPWA despite the rules."

She laughed. "Suck face? That makes it sound like something from Alien. Like we're going to suck so hard that we'll both swallow each other's face."

"Lance would say that's impossible," Mox said, smiling. "Look, do you think we've done our prom time? I was told there's no shame in leaving early, so want to do that? Go somewhere where it's not all about romance? Maybe somewhere where we can get good coffee? Because yeah, the dancing was fun, the food wasn't bad, but I'm a little tired of the whole teenage mating ritual as you'd say."

"Caffeine Infusion isn't far," Raven said. "They've got some pretty strong stuff, if that's what you're into, and they're open all night."

"That sounds perfect," Mox said. "Do you want to tell your sisters we're leaving? So they don't go looking for us?"

Raven nodded. "Do you want to wait here?" She motioned to the gate, "We can leave through there, I'll bet."

"Sure," Mox said. "You'll probably find Roman and May together-" he began then stopped.

As if mentioning their names had cast some appearance spell the two walked out the door, together. "Whew," May said. "It's cool out here, I like it."

"It was getting pretty hot in there," Roman agreed. He had his suit coat slung over his shoulder.

"Hey!" Mox called out, "Over here."

They came over, sitting down in the two empty seats. "I didn't know you were out here!" May said.

"You haven't noticed anything but lover boy since you got here." Raven nodded in the direction of Roman. "You probably forgot we even came with you."

"Of course I didn't!" May protested.

"Raven and I were thinking of leaving," Mox said. "She said there's a coffee shop nearby that's open all night. We thought we'd go and impress them with being the best dressed patrons in the place. But, we didn't want to leave without telling you."

"About being the best dressed," Raven said hesitantly. "I actually have a change of clothes in my backpack." Shelly had almost had a heart attack when Raven insisted on bringing along her backpack and might not have gotten out the door if she hadn't promised Shelly that she would check it into the cloak room before they even went into the prom room. "Would it bother you if I got changed?"

Mox pretended to contemplate this, then shrugged. "As long as you don't mind if I take off the coat and tie and unbutton at least two buttons on my shirt."

"Deal," Raven said, rising to her feet. "I'll be right back."

As she rushed inside, May smiled. "I'll bet fifty bucks she'll go to the ladies room to change before she comes back."

"I"m not talking that bet," Mox said. "I'm not stupid. But will your other sister pitch a fit because she's going to stuff that dress in her backpack?"

"If I know my sister, the dress is made with material that can stand it," May said. "Shelly will scold the hell out of her, but she'll know how to fix it."

"So, how many after parties have you been invited to?" Mox teased, changing the subject.

Roman shrugged. "A lot," he said. "Not as many as Shelly and Colin,but a lot."

"And most, if not all of them, have more to do with Roman than me," May admitted cheerfully. "Most of the girls and a few of the guys are hoping he's going to transfer up here."

Roman shrugged, his cheeks turning a little red. "But I only have eyes for you, Baby Girl."

"All right," Mox said firmly. "You're officially making me sick to my stomach, stop it now, please."

.

.

Raven came out a few minutes later, dressed in jeans, and a t-shirt with a denim jacket over that. She even had sneakers on, which surprised Mox. Her backpack hadn't looked that full when she brought it. She came over and Mox noticed she was chewing her lip. "Are you ready to go?"

Her brow furrowed. "I don't know," she said.

"What's going on?" May asked, reaching up to take her sister's hand, as if to guide her into sitting down.

Raven refused to be soothed and moved her hand away. "I heard Shasta Green talking in the ladies room while I was changing. She's Ty's date."

May's expression went from worried to alarmed. "Ty is one of Barry's friends," she informed the two men. "He's the guy whose jaw Raven dislocated." She looked at her sister. "So, okay, what's happening?"

"Barry rented a room in the hotel," Raven said. He told his dad it was so he and his friends could have an after party, but according to Shasta, all he plans is to take Lajila up there."

"_Lajila?_" May said, looking surprised. "Lajila _Burman?_ That isn't her style at all."

"No, it's not," Raven said. "And Shasta is worried because she knows Barry had some Ecstasy, the stuff they call Molly and he already gave her some, he bragged to Ty about it, that he was able to slip it to her without her knowing."

"What?" Mox asked. He knew exactly the drug they were talking about, he'd been given it more than a few times in his life along with Rohypnol and a few others designed to either render him close to unconscious before being raped, or to make it so he was so messed up he couldn't say no. It didn't matter that he was pretty much forced to have sex with whoever he was told, that didn't stop people from giving him things to make him more pliable.

"This isn't good," May said.

"Look, we already know Barry is a creep," Raven said, her fingers flexing. "But Mox noticed she looked wasted and I know her parents are the type to have a heart attack if she did drugs, willingly or not. I want to go and kill Barry, but even more, I want to get Lajila away from him. Because I have a feeling once he gets her up to that room, he's going to make her do stuff she wouldn't do if she was sober. I mean, I don't think she'd even want to go to the room if she was sober."

"So let's get her out of there," Mox said, rising to his feet. "You're right, if he's been slipping her stuff, she's not in any condition to consent to anything. We have to rescue her."

Roman nodded, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "But we don't want to make a huge scene either. I have an idea. But considering the past, Raven, I want you to stay as far away as possible. So, why don't you find Shelly and tell her the four of us are going to go to the coffee shop?"

"But I want-" Raven started, but Mox shook his head.

"You've already taken heat from that bastard and his friends, let us handle this, okay?"

Raven looked as if she might either burst into tears, or start yelling, but nodded.

.

.

May and Mox were able to identify Barry and Lajila the moment they stepped back inside. The two of them were dancing together, and unlike earlier, Lajila seemed more aware of her surroundings. "She looks okay," Roman commented.

"He's gonna redose her, I'll bet," Mox said. "She was trashed earlier. She's coming down, but if he's got more he'll make sure she gets it. Molly makes your brain messed up. You do things you normally wouldn't even dream of doing."

"And you're 100% sure this is _not_ what she'd want?" Roman asked May.

"Yes," May said. "Her parents are strict. Not mean, but strict. She's told Raven and I that they want her to save herself for marriage, and she doesn't really have a problem with that. Maybe if she and Barry had been a couple for awhile, she'd feel different, but as far as I know, this is the first time they've gone out. She's not going to want to lose her virginity in a one night stand at the prom."

"Okay," Roman said, nodding. "Let's go do it."

.

_Crystal_ by New Order was playing, and Roman and May joined the other dancers, moving closer and closer to Barry and Lajila. _It sure would be nice if we'd met earlier,_ Roman thought, but it was too late for that. When they were close enough, he drew on all his inner confidence and nodded to May, then he effectively interjected himself between Barry and Lajila. "Hey pretty one," Roman said. "You promised me you'd save me a dance."

"I did?" Lajila said, her eyes were overly bright. For the life of her, she couldn't remember promising a dance to this gorgeous man in front of her, in fact the whole night was hazy, but she sure wasn't going to object.

Roman curled one hand around her waist and danced her away from Barry.

.

Before Barry could object, May cut in front of him, letting Roman and Lajila dance away. "Hey, Barry," she said brightly. "I guess since Roman's dancing with your date, you can dance with me."

"You hate my guts," Barry said, standing on the dance floor without moving. "You and your whole stupid family thinks I molested your bratty sister because that's what she said when she broke my wrist. You don't want to dance with me."

"Well, you're right about the first part." May said. _ Crystal _ended and _Fallin' _by Alicia Keys began playing, Mox had done his part, got the DJ to play a slow song. Before Barry could object, she wrapped her arms around him, using her considerable strength to keep him from getting away from her without making it a noticeable struggle. "Don't protest, Barry," she whispered into his ear. "Move to the music, pretend you're enjoying this, and no matter what, do _not _forget that my knee is dangerously close to your family jewels." She couldn't see his face, but she hoped his eyes were wide. She saw Mox heading close to her, to watch out for her, which she thought was rather sweet, considering she was just as capable of breaking Barry's wrist or just about any other bone in his body as her sister had been back in Junior High. Barry did not believe in sports. He was naturally skinny, but May figured he spent his spare time playing video games and searching the internet for porn.

"What the fuck is your problem," Barry hissed back. "And give me one reason why I _shouldn't_ make a scene. Everyone knows you Parker girls are strong. Your fucking sister broke my wrist."

"Don't forget," May said, holding him tighter. "My knee is _dying_ to make the acquaintance of your testicles. So, just keep your lips zipped and listen and you may come out of this still able to reproduce and not singing soprano the rest of your life." May was amazed at how easy the words came from her, but all she had to do was remember the look on Raven's face when she told her family what Barry had been doing and why she had broken his wrist. She couldn't take that away from Raven, but she could stop Lajila from having something probably worse happen to her.

Barry moved his hands up to make it look more like they were dancing and said nothing. May knew that the arms around her waist was to save face. She didn't care.

.

As soon as the slower, romantic song began playing, Roman swept Lajila into his arms as if they might be long lost lovers. She didn't offer a single objection. He leaned over, putting his lips near her hair as if to feel the softness. She did have very pretty, very soft, straight black hair, but it wasn't his intention to nuzzle her hair. "Are you okay, Lajila? Feeling a little dizzy?"

"Yeah," she admitted, her voice sounding almost dreamy. "I haven't felt... myself since we got here, but it's been kind of nice." She sighed. "Everyone is so _wonderful._ I never knew how wonderful the people in this school are. Although I don't remember you, but you're so nice, too."

There was no nice way to tell someone this, and Roman didn't even try. "Your date slipped you some Molly or something similar," he said, still whispering in her ear, as he nuzzled her hair. He knew there were girls watching them, feeling sorry for May. He _was_ acting like a douche bag._ May understands._ "You're high. You're coming down, we have reason to believe he's going to slip you more and then take you upstairs. He's rented a room for the night. Do I have to spell out what he's likely to do when you get there?"

As he hoped, the words seemed to sober her up. "He wouldn't do that!"

"Yes, he would," Roman said. "Your friend Raven overheard Shasta discussing this in the ladies room. Barry is bad news. Do you want to spend the night with him?"

"No!" She pulled away a bit so she could look into his eyes. "I-I'm not that type of girl, I mean, not that there's anything wrong with-"

"It's okay," Roman said. "You don't have to explain yourself. Look, my friends and I are going to leave the prom to go have some coffee. Why don't you come with us? We'll make sure you get home safely, too. May and Raven Parker are my friends, you trust them, right?"

Lajila looked stunned as the news washed over her, but she nodded.

"Okay then, just play along." He danced her to the edge of the dance floor, onto the rug, then let go of her. Mox was there, along with Raven who stood out in her casual clothing, but seemed a lot more comfortable.

.

"Okay, Barry, this is how it's going to go down," May whispered into his ear. "Lajila is going to come with me and my friends for coffee. You will not object, you will do _nothing_. When we are gone, you can use your hotel room for its intended purpose and have an after prom party, or you can go and have sex with yourself. If you attempt to stop this? I will raise a fuss, claiming you offered me drugs. Remember, I'm one of those pure as snow Parker girls you hate, so of _course_ I'd freak out if someone offered me those _evil_ drugs. And I'll bet the _last_ thing you want is for someone to search you. I won't break your wrist like my sister, she saved your ass by doing that. I'll just take Lajila to the nearest emergency room and have her blood tested. And I will do everything in my power to get her to go to the police. And I will find a reason to get charges to stick." As she spoke, she curled her lips into her prettiest, most innocent smiles for anyone who might be watching them.

"I wish you luck," Barry said back, but his voice was low, it was clear he didn't want anyone to overhear them.

"We'll get the drug charges to stick," she said. "Because they are going to find it on you when I scream and they search you. Do you want to take a chance? Your father may have been willing to blame my sister for defending herself, but will he be so eager to believe someone _accidentally_ planted drugs on you? So, let's take the easy way out of this. Lajila is with my friends and my sister. When this song ends, we will go our separate ways. You can tell your friends whatever you want as to why Lajila is leaving without you. Just remember if you try to smear her reputation? She'll have a story to tell too. Raven, myself, Lajila, we have pretty good imaginations, so you can _imagine_ what reasons we'll come up with for ditching you, and they won't be nice. So, just go to your friends, say that Lajila is so wholesome and boring that she'd rather have coffee with her friends than to party with a real man. That's about as safe as it will get for you."

Barry said nothing, but the song was ending. May moved slowly out of his arms. He made no objections, and in fact seemed happier the further away from him she got. They said nothing to each other as she turned and went over to her friends.

.

.

They stayed quite late at the coffee shop, giving Lajila time to get the drugs out of her system. She lamented her choices, and the others assured her it wasn't her fault. "I just wanted to go to Prom so badly, and Barry was the only one who asked me."

"You did nothing wrong," Raven said. "He did. All blame is his."

"But the important thing is that you're safe," May said.

"But if he did it to me he might do it to..." Lajila began, then let her voice trail off.

"We can't do anything about that now," May said.

"But you can be vigilant," Mox suggested. "Watch out for him. Maybe warn other girls of what can happen. It sounds like that Shasta girl in the bathroom might be someone to start with. She suspected what was happening. Tell her she was right. Form a safety group. I mean, you can't bust him on tonight, nobody saw him slipping Lajila the Molly, even if we could prove it was in her system. Anyone could have done it. But, you know, you could let the news go around school that he's a potential rapist."

May nodded. "Maybe we'll get Shelly in on this."

"If we can, word will be around in ten minutes," Raven said, but she didn't look very cheerful. Mox reached over and squeezed her shoulder. As he was doing it, he wondered if it was a good idea, but she looked at him and smiled, it was a bleak smile, but at that point, he was willing to settle.

.

.

They took the subway, making sure Lajila got home first. When her parents expressed surprise that her date wasn't with her, Lajila told them in a voice that never wavered, that Barry turned out to not be the person she thought he was, and that she had decided to leave him and go to the coffee shop with her friends. Raven couldn't be sure, because her parents were a bit hard to read, but she thought Dr. Burman, her father had a glint in his eyes that said he was proud of his daughter and her willingness to refuse to stand up to someone who wouldn't treat her right.

.

.

When they went to the converted library, to no one's surprise, Michelle and Ferris were still awake, wanting to hear all about Prom. "You're going to be exhausted," May scolded. "The little ones are going to wake up before you have a chance to go to sleep!"

"I know," Michelle said, as she made hot chocolate. "But it's worth it. We want to hear all about the Prom."

Even so, they didn't talk long. And the incident with Lajila wasn't mentioned. "Maybe someday," Raven told Mox later. "But right now, it's enough that we rescued her, we don't need to talk about it."

"I get it," Mox said.

.

.

Mox and Roman were spending the night in the guest room, which was also Shelly's sewing room, with two twin beds. "You're lucky," May said, as she showed them the room. "Mom made Shelly clean it up. Normally it's a minefield of pins and bolts of cloth."

"Well, I'll be sure to thank your mother and Shelly tomorrow," Roman said, smiling.

"Where's Raven?" Mox asked, looking around. "Did she go to bed?"

May shrugged. "I don't think so. I think she would have come with us if she was going to go right to bed. She's probably sitting on the front steps. It's been... well, it's been a tough night for her in a lot of ways. She probably wants a little time to process."

Mox nodded. "I'm gonna go sit with her." He left the room calling out softly, "Don't worry, I remember how to get there."

When he was gone, Roman looked at May. "You know, that was _not_ how I expected the night to end, but we did a good thing."

"We did," May agreed. "And yeah, I didn't expect that ending either."

"I know you're new to all this dating stuff," Roman said, his voice soft, because the door was open, and they didn't want to wake anyone. "So, I'm going to ask you, can I kiss you?"

"You'd better," May said, blushing. "Or I'm going to have to lie in my diary."

"We can't have that," Roman said, then he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, gently at first, but as she became more comfortable and wrapped her arms around his, it heated up, becoming less sweet and more passionate.

"Baby Girl," Roman said, when they had drawn apart, both a little flushed. "For someone who has no experience? You're damned good at this."

"So are you," May said. Then she sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"The whole distance thing," May admitted. "It figures the only guy I've ever wanted to date is miles away from me."

"I know," Roman said. Their arms were still around each other. "But we're not a country apart. We'll find ways to be in the same places at the same time."

"Are you saying we do a long distance romance?" May quirked one brow. "Because everything I've ever heard say those just don't work."

"I agree," Roman said. "So, how about we play it like this... when we're in the same area, we go out. When we're not, we're free to see other people.'

"What if we meet someone who we like and doesn't like that idea?" she asked.

He leaned over and kissed her again. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," he said softly.

.

.

Raven was sitting on the front steps, just as May predicted. Mox closed the door softly behind him, then sat down next to her. "Waiting for the sunrise?"

"I might be," she admitted. "If I don't go to bed soon, I will be." She looked at Mox. "I know you have to fly out of here tomorrow, well, no, later this afternoon. You don't have to keep me company."

"I know," Mox said, "But I can also sleep on the plane. And then when I get home. And, I like spending time with you."

"In a brotherly way, right?" Raven smiled.

"Yep."

Raven sighed. "It would be a lot easier on me if I were normal. If we both were normal, and we could be just like everyone else our age, do some necking, maybe get to third base and all."

"Maybe," Mox said. "But maybe not. Maybe if we were normal, we'd get all into it, dating, kissing, all of that. And then we'd break up. And maybe it would be bad, so we ended up hating each other."

Raven laughed a little bitterness coming through. "Only you would find the bright side to being fucked up."

"I don't think we're fucked up," Mox said. "I think we're both injured and it's messed with us, yeah, but one day we'll find our way out of it. We're already headed in the right direction. But, I think we both worry too much because we're afraid everyone else thinks we're fucked up. And maybe they do. But you know? They aren't us. We have a right to determine how long it's going to take to fix ourselves. We're not a burden on society, so why does it matter? A few weeks, a few months, a few years? We shouldn't allow anyone to put a timeline on our healing, we'll get there."

"What's _there?_" Raven asked. "A normal sex life?"

"_There_ is whatever we decide it should be," Mox said. "_There_ is a place where we're at peace with whatever we decide we are." He grinned, turning slightly so it was easier to face her. "In the meantime, all these crazy things like proms, weddings, whatever, those stupid occasions where it's almost mandatory to have a date? We can do that for each other. We can put on fancy clothing, and make everyone think we're normal. It will get them off our asses and we can have fun. Because yeah, Raven, I like spending time with you. Again, you're the younger sister I wish I could have had. And for that? I'll_ always _love you."

She turned too so she could see him easier. "I know I have Calvin, and I love him dearly, but yeah, you can be an older brother too. Because you're right, maybe we're still trying to get there, but for now, yeah, I like your company... and I love you too, just like I love him and my other sibs."

Smiling, he put his arm around her. She didn't object, she moved closer. And the two of them looked out, watching the sun just beginning to rise.

The End

**Author's Notes**: Thanks if you read all of it. I'm pretty sure this was not one of my better stories, although I tried. Can't win 'em all, right?


End file.
